Tavares It Is!

Maybe I should be blogging about Michael Jackson or even Billy Mays but I’m a pretty inconsistant blogger.  So instead I will just share my relief that the NHL Draft is over and the Mission Tavares has been a success.

I’m not sure when I decided it would be best to root for an awful season, sometime last October I believe.  However after suffering all those loses I believe the Islanders will be better off.  Well, I HOPE they will.  Things haven’t gone according to plan in Islander Town in a very long time.  And while on paper Taveres now teamed with other kids on the team full of potential (Kyle Okposo, Josh Bailey, etc) seems like a proper blueprint, there’s no guarantee for anything.

So now that this is over there’s still plenty to cross the fingers about.

Published in: on June 28, 2009 at 11:05 pm Leave a Comment

Moment of Truth

There’s a number of things that I should be blogging about, however tonight is the night of the NHL draft. And truth be told I’m only interested in what the New York Islanders do.

If you scroll down on this blog you’ll see I was hugely in support of finishing last in order to get that number one overall pick. Now they have it and the consensous is that they should use it on John Tavares, a guy I’ve been hoping for all year.

However these are the Islanders so while the choice may be obvious there is no guarantee they won’t do something completely bizarre.

So 7pm EST tonight I will be crossing my fingers.

Published in: on June 26, 2009 at 11:55 am Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Lost in Lost

The serial tv show is a tricky sell to me.  If you aren’t in on the ground floor then you’re playing catch up.  Quite franky, who the hell wants to do that?

So many shows that are serialized have gone by the wayside for me.  Naturally number one on the serialized tv show list (at least these days) is Lost and naturally I don’t watch it. 

My brother Joey swears by the show, but having missed that first season back in 2004 I was not interested and I was okay with that.  Best dramatic show ever? If you say so.  Now leave me alone so I can see the latest Prison Break.

All that has changed however.  And all because my step father got lymphoma.

A few months back my step father Luis was diagnosed with lymphoma and he started radiation treatment (he’s going to be fine, thankfully).  This was naturally very stressful for my mother who worries about everything under the sun as it is.  So my brother Joey sent her for her birthday season one of Lost.  “It will take your mind off things,” he said.  He was right.

The next time I visited my mother she had just finished season one.  And eager to talk about. How exciting it was.  How different it was.  The enthusiasm she had was not something I’d expect coming from my mother.  But it was there and it was undeniable.  So that weekend I got her season two.  The reaction she had when I gave it her was priceless.  It was as though I had giver her a gold bar. 

So when I left my mother’s that weekend she had made sure that I took season one home with me.  She insisted I watch it,  Okay, sure.  I mean, I knew it was good but you know…

Getting home putting the DVDs in and sitting down with Jessica to watchLost I would not have guessed that only a few weeks later I’d be starting season three (my mother is currently working her way through season four).

Yes Lost IS all it’s cracked up to be.  Tremendous writing, great acting, and exciting fun stuff.  A truly great show.  Me and Jessica breezed through season one in a week.  Season two in a week and a half. 

Now I’m onto season three and here comes the dilemma. I realize that the end of Lost DVDs is coming up.  Soon enough I’ll be caught up and then it will still be until fall before that final season starts.

Starting season three tonight me and Jessica watched three episodes in what seemed like 30 minutes time.  It just flew by.  So now I realize that I have to slow it down.  Make it last.  Cut it down to maybe…two episodes a night? It’s rough because I’m so far behind that the things that are going on with the show are completely irrelevent right now.  Jessica has tried to bring it up on the show as a topic but honestly, talking about a five year old cliffhanger seems just a wee bit lame.

So I shall suck it up and pace it out because that season opener is just around the corner.  And I can’t wait.

Published in: on June 14, 2009 at 4:59 am Comments (3)
Tags: ,

Mondays Are For Squares, Thursdays Now Hip

Just a quick note to mention that now The Radio Dan Show two hour extravaganzy will move to Thursdays. Mondays are now even lamer.

Sorry about that.

Published in: on May 17, 2009 at 1:27 am Leave a Comment

State of Play; State of Movies

Today I have a great experience at the movies.  I dragged Jessica kicking and screaming to see State of Play, a thriller that is set in the world modern world of newspapers.

State of Play stars Russell Crowe as a rumpled reporter looking for facts in a story that concerns some dead people, a congressman (Ben Affleck) he happens to have been friends with, a political sex scandal, a private agency of mercenaries potentially replacing homeland security, and probably a few other things that I’m forgetting.  There’s a lot going on here, people.  Certainly enough to jam into its two hours and 12 minute running time.

Crowe is teamed up with his papers online reporter (Rachel McAdams), who he naturally does not really respect.  After all she is a BLOGGER!  Honestly it does ring true, especially with the decline of the newspaper business as a whole.  One of the aspects of State of Play that I enjoyed was the fact that they acknowledge that the paper is dying out and sometime soon the Rachel McAdams of the world will be the heroic rumpled reporters in future stories.

State of Play is a movie that more than delivers on its promises.  There’s a great story here, well played by everyone (including Helen Mirren as the Editor in Chief, Jeff Daniels as another congressman, and Jason Bateman as a weasely guy who knows something about what’s going on), and a great job by director Kevin Mcdonald to take this big mess and make it all easy to follow.  The thrills actually thrill here.  Novel idea, really.

I am not the first person to heap praise on this movie.  In fact State of Play has a very impressive 85% fresh rating on rottentomatoes.com, the website that gives scores to films to reflect the critical reception.  State of Play cost $60 million to produce and after three weeks of release is currently sitting in 10th place as I type this out.  It has grossed $30 million and will not break even when it is all said and done. 

To me this almost feels like another nail in the coffin for the adult (not porno!) minded movie.  Movies today seem to be aiming mainly at that Gen Y demographic and younger.  It’s less cinematic art and storytelling as it is amusement park rides and nonsense. 

Consider that if you took all the movies that debuted at number one at the box office and averaged it out, the rottentomatoes score would be 42%.  And no, this does not include this week’s number movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which would drop lower once you averaged in it’s ugly 37% fresh rating.

What are the successes we’ve had in 2009 at the box office?  Let’s look first at Paul Blart: Mall Cop which took in $145 million at the box office, has a 31% fresh rating.  Other box office hits in 2009 include Fast & Furious ($149 million, 28%), Knowing ($77 million, 34% fresh), Friday the 13th ($65 million, 26% fresh), and current ly in the top ten is Obsessed ($47 million, 20% fresh), and 17 Again ($48 million, 56% fresh).  

On paper a movie like Watchman ($107 million, 64% fresh) seems like a good case for the idea that a smart, well made movie (yes that is my opinion of Watchmen) can be a hit.  But once you consider that this was a film that opened big with $55 million in it’s opening and barely crossed the coveted $100 million mark AND it’s way too high budget of $150 million and you realize that this type of film is a gamble that Hollywood will now NOT make in the future.

State of Play now can be added to the list of Hollywood films that tried to appeal to a grown up audience and found there were no grown ups left out there.  Add this to the list of films of 2009 that have been ignored like Adventureland ($15 million, 88% fresh), Duplicity ($40 million, 67% fresh), and Sunshine Cleaning ($10 million, 71% fresh).

I will still head out to the theaters each weekend, since it is my favorite thing to do.  I will still hold out hope that Hollywood (or someone) keeps making quality movies that will appeal to adults.  And I hope that eventually people will start showing up to see them.

Radio Dan Show Commercial?

Recently one of TalkRadioX’s loyal listeners, Creeto (his blog is linked on the right hand side of this page), made a commercial for my show.

It’s very strange that someone would just do this, but I must admit I do keep watching this.  And it gets more bizarre each time.

Published in: on April 30, 2009 at 3:16 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Poker Anyone?

We’ve been discussing doing an online poker tournament with all the hosts and listeners at TRX.  Though I’m not sure if enough people would be interested.  Especially since winning would most likely get you a tshirt or a mug.

After a little research I’ll know if its worth the effort.  I hope so because I think it’s a fun idea.  More than likely this would take place on a Saturday and depending on how well it went I could see this kind of thing taking place periodically.

Mondays Are Twice As Nice…and Long

If you pay attention to TalkRadioX then this is old news.

Mondays The Radio Dan Show is a whopping two hours long!  That’s right there’s now more of me to love.  Or if you listen to the replay then Tuesdays at 2pm you’ll notice that I’m doing extra duty.

I’m not sure how long this will last.  So far I’ve two Mondays this way and honestly it’s a lot of fun.   It’s certainly feels like a challenge to have that much to talk about.   I’m only taking the one break at the top of the hour so we’ll see how long that lasts.

Recently I was listening The Dan LeBatard Show on 790 AM here in South Florida. My favorite radio show by far.  Dan had announced they were doing one hour commercial free but would do a couple of live spots.  So I thought this would be great until they played a Letterman clip that was about 5 minutes long.  The rest of the hour was pretty cluncky.  I hope that’s not how I’m sounding. 

The Live Test Show will now be doing two hours on Friday nights starting at 8pm, so everything balances out.   Go on now, tell some friends.

Published in: on April 16, 2009 at 1:14 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

Islanders Win Lottery!

Shockingly the New York Islanders did win the draft lottery I’ve been occaisionally blogging about for the last few months.

I suppose now I should go back to the normal bit with movies and television.  While I was on air tonight my brother Joey unexpectedly called in and put the phone up to the television while they read the lottery results.  So basically everyone heard me acting like an idiot when the results were read.

Okay, on to the draft in June. 

Published in: on April 15, 2009 at 1:54 am Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

The Moment of Truth

The New York Islanders did it.  They were the worst team in hockey this season and finished dead last.  That was the easy part.

Now comes tonights drama, the draft lottery.  A I’ve been writing, it’ll be worth it if they can get the number one pick the draft the year and land potential superstar John Tavares.

However there’s this lottery business at hand.  So now after months of losing, the Islanders now have to win something.  As it stands they have a 48% chance of winning the lottery.  That’s a 52% chance of losing.

And somehow the Colorado Avalanche have snuck into the bottom as well.  They could actually win the lottery and wind up being first overall.  Now, Tampa Bay is second worst overall but I don’t think the NHL cares about them.  And I know they don’t care about the Islanders.  Can’t say I blame them much.  Being the number 3 team in a crowded marketplace makes them a prime candidate for relocation, forgetability and general indifference.

This is where John Tavares comes in.  If he’s as good as advertsied and and Islanders get him, then suddenly Nassau Colesium becomes relevent again.

Of course I will be on air when the lottery takes place.  I will try not to look at the results until 9pm.  I wouldn’t want to cry during a show.

Published in: on April 14, 2009 at 12:57 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,